South Africa to host Champions League

The fourth edition of the club Twenty20 tournament will be held in October in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Centurion and Durban.

South Africa was chosen as the host of this year's Champions League T20 tournament by cricket chiefs meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.

"South Africa will host CLT20 this year. All other details to follow soon," tweeted Sundar Raman, of member of the tournament's technical committee.

The fourth edition of the club Twenty20 tournament will be held in October in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Centurion and Durban, the ESPNCricinfo site reported.

Last month India invited Pakistan's domestic champions Sialkot Stallions to join the Champions League, in what was considered a breakthrough towards the resumption of sporting ties between the two countries.

It will be the second time South Africa has hosted the event, which has also been held twice in India. The tournament is a joint initiative between India, South Africa and Australia.

The announcement was made on the sidelines of the International Cricket Council's annual conference, which is taking place this week in the Malaysian capital.

IPL: Gayle, Steyn, Shakib take pole position

An analysis of individual batting, bowling and all-rounder performances in IPL 2012.

Top batsmen in IPL 2012 (min 300 runs)

Batsman	Matches	Runs	Average	Strike rate	Points
Chris Gayle	15	733	61.08	160.74	27.85
Gautam Gambhir	17	590	36.87	143.55	20.99
Kevin Pietersen	8	305	61.00	147.34	20.23
Cameron White	13	479	43.54	149.68	20.08
Shikhar Dhawan	15	569	40.64	129.61	19.10
Virender Sehwag	16	495	33.00	161.23	17.70
Faf du Plessis	13	398	33.16	130.92	17.10
Ajinkya Rahane	16	560	40.00	129.33	16.93
AB de Villiers	16	319	39.87	161.11	16.58
Steven Smith	15	362	40.22	135.58	14.88

Top bowlers in IPL 2012 (min 35 overs)

Bowler	Matches	Wickets	Average	Economy rate	Points
Dale Steyn	12	18	15.83	6.10	29.12
Sunil Narine	15	24	13.50	5.47	28.02
Muttiah Muralitharan	10	15	17.33	6.50	27.67
Lasith Malinga	14	22	15.90	6.30	25.76
Morne Morkel	16	25	18.12	7.19	24.75
Parvinder Awana	12	17	21.88	7.91	23.60
Brad Hogg	9	10	25.30	7.02	22.49
Azhar Mahmood	11	14	23.50	7.71	22.00
Zaheer Khan	16	17	26.64	7.55	20.86
Munaf Patel	12	15	24.46	7.86	20.80

Top allrounders in IPL 2012 (min 75 runs and 10 wickets)

Player	Batting points	Bowling points	Total points
Shakib-Al-Hasan	6.53	24.52	31.05
Kieron Pollard	11.17	19.48	30.65
Azhar Mahmood	8.52	22.00	30.52
Dwayne Bravo	13.27	16.82	30.09
Jacques Kallis	10.68	17.06	27.74
Piyush Chawla	2.21	19.78	21.99
Albie Morkel	3.18	16.93	20.11
Ravindra Jadeja	6.56	10.72	17.28

Kolkata stop Chennai for first IPL title

Bisla's rampage shatters defending champions' hat-trick dream.

Shahrukh Khan performed cartwheels and went on an embracing rampage. Wasim Akram likened the win to Pakistan’s World Cup triumph. Gautam Gambhir shed his stoicism momentarily and allowed his face to crease into a wide grin – and rightly so!

After all, the most maligned of IPL sides had finally lifted the biggest prize. Following season after season of humiliation, Kolkata Knight Riders rode on Manvinder Bisla’s swashbuckling 48-ball 89 and held their nerve to carve out a five-wicket win over defending champions Chennai Super Kings in the final of IPL-V on Sunday night. The result stopped Chennai well short in their tracks as they attempted an unlikely hat-trick of IPL titles.

Chasing Chennai’s imposing 190, Kolkata were served well by Bisla, who slammed five sixes to vindicate his replacement of Brendon McCullum in the eleven and partnered Jacques Kallis for 136 runs in just 82 balls to power Kolkata ahead, after the visiting team had lost skipper Gautam Gambhir in the first over of the pursuit. This was the highest successful chase in an IPL final.

Bisla’s dismissal to an Albie Morkel slower ball when 52 were needed to win in a shade over five overs put Super Kings back in the match. And M.S. Dhoni’s team looked to have attained supremacy when Laxmi Shukla and Yusuf Pathan were out soon after.

KKR needed 20 off the last two overs as Ben Hilfenhaus, until then the pick of Chennai’s bowling, returned to bowl. He lured Kallis into a slice off a full-toss, and on the next ball – another full-toss – appeared to have nailed Shakib Al Hasan. But that delivery was called a no-ball – not only was Shakib not out, he had also scampered a couple as Murali Vijay was busy celebrating the void catch.

The Bangladeshi scooped the last ball of Hilfenhaus’ over for four, leaving KKR with just nine to get off Dwayne Bravo’s last over of the innings. Consecutive boundaries from Manoj Tiwary took Shahrukh Khan’s franchise home with two balls to spare.

Earlier, M.S. Dhoni finally won a toss and unsurprisingly elected to bat in what was Chennai’s third consecutive IPL final. Once again the defending champions were aided by an off-color batsman who chose the most opportune time – the summit clash – to come good.

Hussey (54, 43b) and M.  Vijay (42, 32b) added 87 for the opening wicket in just 62 balls, and then Suresh Raina roared back into form with a 38-ball 73. The southpaw smashed five massive sixes on his way to partnering Hussey for 73 runs in a shade less than seven overs, as Chennai posted 190, thwarting whatever advantage Kolkata had hoped ‘mystery’ spinner Sunil Narine would gain them.

It was surprising that Gambhir, who had harped on his spin advantage all through the build up, gave Iqbal Abdullah just one over, and did not allow Shakib his full quota either. Narine, the second-highest wicket-taker in IPL-V, went for a scalp-less 37 in his quota of four as Raina waded into him. Suspect against the short ball, he acquitted himself well against that delivery on Sunday night.

Raina pulled Jacques Kallis for maximum over mid-wicket and reserved similar treatment for Brett Lee - L. Balaji’s replacement - biffing him over his head for a morale-crushing blow. Lee finished with 42 runs taken from his four overs. Chennai had begun quietly, taking just six from the first two overs, but as Lee ran in for the third, the carnage started. Hussey lofted the Aussie speedster for four right behind him and then Vijay creamed another one through mid-wicket.

When Lee returned for the sixth over of the innings, the tempo shifted. Vijay and Hussey struck a six apiece, taking the toll from Lee’s over to 19. Vijay was out to a sensational catch by by Shakib in the deep, giving way for Raina to bat. The left-hander ensured a more than competitive total for his side, and Chennai would have considered the match over and done with at the halfway stage. Little did they know that Bisla and Kallis had something entirely different in mind.

IPL: Our spirit is solid: SRK

Finally, Shah Rukh Khan's five-year-long wait has ended. His Indian Premier League (IPL) team, Kolkata Knight Riders, has entered the finals - after defeating Delhi Daredevils - for the first time in five years.
No wonder he celebrated deliriously - with somersaults and a victory lap - at the Subroto Roy Stadium in Pune on Tuesday even in the face of Rajasthan court summons and Wankhede ban. "The spirit and combination of our team is looking solid," says SRK, reinforcing the fact that no controversy will stop him from supporting the team on field. "Gautam (Gambhir; captain) has rallied the forces very well.
In a team game, the entire unit needs to come together. Like all the spheres in life, sometimes a leader puts them all together while at times the combination of 11 people hits the right note." Also, SRK feels over the years, some of the younger players like Manoj Tiwary, Laxmi Ratan Shukla and Debabrata Das have matured. "We've sustained with them for years. For instance, Debabrata - like a few other young ones - has been with us for five years now. Also, we have made the size of our team much smaller this time around. So everyone knows that they have a chance to play," says the actor, who said he found it hard to believe that his team has reached the finals.
Beside Indian players, SRK admits that his "foreign players are so wonderfully talented" that management doesn't know who to bring in (the team). The actor says that Gautam is a huge force along with biggies like Jacques Kallis, Brendon McCullum and Shakib Al Hasan.
"Also, I feel the inclusion of Sunil Narine - whom Gautam suggested - has made KKR a very balanced team. Now, we have very good batsmen instead of, say, just three strong batters. Our batting order is till Brett Lee comes in," he says.

BCCI invites PCB chief for IPL final in Chennai

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has invited Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Zaka Ashraf for the Indian Premier League (IPL) final in Chennai.

Ashraf, who is currently in London, will travel to Chennai on a two-day visit.
"This is a good gesture," Ashraf told The Express Tribune.
"I will also bring up the bilateral series issue and hopefully we can resume matches between the two teams soon," he added.
The development comes after the BCCI gave a positive response to Pakistan's participation in the Champions League Twenty20.

Bangalore shocked, Chennai pleasantly surprised

Dale Steyn slams door shut on Challengers, allows Super Kings to sneak in.

Whistle podu! Make sure you suck in a lung full of air and let it all out in one shrill burst. Although Chennai Super Kings had no active part to play in this match, they were unequivocally the biggest beneficiaries as Deccan Chargers pulled the rug from under the feet of Royal Challengers Bangalore for a nine-run win.

Bangalore’s loss meant they finished in fifth place on 17 points from 16 fixtures, on equal points with Chennai but with a poorer run-rate. Fourth-placed Chennai will now take on third-placed Mumbai Indians in the eliminator (a virtual quarterfinal), while Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders will face off in the ‘Qualifier 1’.

The winners of ‘Qualifier 1’ will progress to the final, while the losers will get another chance of making the title clash when they play the winners of the Chennai-Mumbai eliminator in what is virtually a semifinal. Chargers too gained something from their Saturday win. They ensured that they vacated their basement residence to Pune Warriors, who will finish at the bottom of the pile in IPL-V.

Chennai should take a moment to thank, with all their heart, Dale Steyn, who bowled superlatively for figures of 4-0-8-3 to stall Bangalore in what was ostensibly an empty match for the home team. Bangalore needed to win to assure themselves a berth in the last four, and when they restricted Chargers to 132 after electing to field, half the job appeared to have been done.

The win looked a formality when Chris Gayle galloped to a 10-ball 27 to begin the chase, but Steyn had other plans. He softened the West Indian with a deadly bouncer and then swung in a searing fuller delivery that Gayle bottom-edged on to the stumps, giving the paceman the first of his three wickets. In his next over Steyn brought another dizzyingly fast delivery to thwack into Tillakaratne Dilshan’s pads – to maximum effect.

Although skipper Virat Kohli (42) and Saurabh Tiwary (30) guided Bangalore back into contention with a 46-run partnership, the game swung back Chargers’ way when the firebrand hit Ashish Reddy straight to long-on. And when Steyn returned for his last over, conceding just one and firing in another yorker into Zaheer Khan’s furniture, Bangalore knew in their hearts that their IPL-V dreams – despite boasting the mammoth Gayle in their line-up – were over.

Challengers did everything right in the first innings. They elected to field and strangulated Chargers to an average total, which attained respectability only through J.P. Duminy (74), who hammered five sixes to offset the early sedateness of his colleagues.

Chargers struggled for the most part of the innings, losing their season top-scorer Shikhar Dhawan to Zaheer in the first over. Akshath Reddy was caught behind off Vinay Kumar and the dangerous Cameron White was deceived by left-arm paceman Prasanth Parameshwaran, leaving Chargers three down after the Powerplay with just 23 runs on the board.

Wickets kept tumbling before Parthiv Patel partnered Duminy for 71 in 7.4 overs in a stand dominated comprehensively by the South African. Duminy emerged from his stupor in the 16th over, carting Vinay for six over long-on. He then went after Muttiah Muralitharan, clobbering three maximums in an over that yielded 20. The South African holed out to long-on in the 19th over, but his effort - and countryman Steyn's later - worked to Bangalore's detriment, and Chennai's gain.

PCB to confirm Australia series venue next week

 Malaysia, South Africa and Zimbabwe are among the countries Pakistan are considering as options to host their limited-overs series against Australia in August. The series was set to be held in Sri Lanka, but SLC pulled out last week due to a clash in the series schedule with the first season of the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL). The PCB said that a final decision on the venue will be taken within a week.

"It was indeed a setback to our plans when Sri Lanka pulled out," Intikhab Alam, PCB director international cricket, told reporters in Lahore. "But they have their own reasons and we have no problem with it however and have been searching for alternatives. Malaysia, South Africa and Zimbabwe are the options we have marked. A decision will be taken within next one week."

In March this year, the SLC had agreed in principle to host the series. At that time, there had been no decision on the SLPL. The proposed first season of the league had been cancelled last year and it was only earlier this month that a new deal was signed by the Sri Lanka board to hold the SLPL this August.

Pakistan and Australia are due to play five ODIs and three Twenty20 internationals against each other. The original plan was to play just one Twenty20, but with the World T20 immediately after the series, the countries' boards have agreed to play two extra matches.

Pakistan have had to play their home series in neutral venues since the attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in March 2009. While the United Arab Emirates has been Pakistan's usual "home" venue since then, the venue was ruled out due to the extreme heat and the month of Ramzan.

Pakistan's last home series against Australia was played in England, in the summer of 2010, after which they have hosted all their home series, including one against Sri Lanka and England, in the UAE.

Malaysia last hosted an international series in 2006, when India, Australia and West Indies played a tri-series in Kuala Lumpur.